Thanksgiving

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#Feasts#Reminders

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

None of you are as old as me who read this. That means I am as “old as dirt” to quote someone recently.  It also means that I need reminders from time to time. I have noticed that I tend to write things down a whole lot more than I used to.  I am so thankful for post-it-notes! 🙂

We all need reminders from time to time. Forgetting is not something relegated to older people.  Going into a room and not remembering why you went there is not cordoned off for just old people. If that happens to me, I just go back out and then hope I will remember. Or sometimes I look around the room hoping it will jog my memory. “Tricks of me trade my boy, tricks of me trade.”  I heard that once. Oh yeah, on MacGyver (the original).

The two feasts we will be looking at this week are feasts of remembrance. Yom Kippur (aka the Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (aka the Feast of Booths).  Both feasts played a big part in helping the Jewish people to remember what God had done, how faithful He had been.

My desire this week is to show why these feasts held such a prominent place in the lives of the Israelites and how they can serve as a reminder to us of God’s faithfulness and forgiveness.  I think they fit nicely into the whole idea of being thankful (which this Thanksgiving holiday is all about).  I hope to see you in person at 9 and 10:45 or, if not, then via live stream at the same times.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

#Separation#Firstfruits#Pentecost

Thursday, November 17th, 2022

What do you think of when you think of the word holiness? I can tell you what some have in mind. Monasteries, organ music, long prayers and religious-sounding chants all are mentioned.  Someone else said, “Holiness brings to mind thinness, hollow-eyed gauntness, beards, sandals, long robes, no sex, no jokes, frequent cold baths, fasting, hours of prayer, wild rocky deserts, getting up at o-dark-30, stained glass, and self-humiliation.” Yeah…not a great picture.

So to talk about holiness gives some people the “whilly’s.” I Peter 2:9-10 tells us we have been set apart to be the people of God and with that separation came special privileges.

The two feasts I am going to be speaking about this Sunday both deal with separation: Firstfruits and Pentecost (also called “Weeks.”) The former deals with separation based on faith; the latter deals with separation based on promise.

Please join us as we continue the series called Feasts with a Purpose. We meet at 9 and 10:45.

#Feasts#Passover

Thursday, November 10th, 2022

One of the understandings that I believe many NT followers of Jesus lack is that of the importance and purpose of the OT feasts. We hear they are in the OT and we turn our antenna off. And to make it even more drastic, we know that we need to read the OT to hear about them and what their purpose was.

Read the Old Testament? Read Leviticus? Are you kidding me? For many, that is a recipe for sleep mode. I confess…I have had that attitude in the past. But I decided to stop snoring publicly when I talk about the OT. I decided to stop downplaying its importance.  There were several reasons for doing that. 1) It was making a mockery of God’s inspired, written Word. 2) I began to really come to grips that Jesus is throughout the Bible. I mean, I knew that, but I finally allowed it to sink in. I began to read some books about it. Jesus on Every Page. The Unfolding Mystery. Christ from Beginning to End were just some of them.

And then…and then…I decided I would do something I had never done before. I would focus on the feasts in the OT as they relate to Thanksgiving and, of course, to NT followers of Jesus. I begin that 4-week series this Sunday. My title is God Redeems His People. I’ll be looking at the Passover and this is the only sermon in which I will focus on only one feast. But how can I not? This is possibly the most important feast/meal the Jews were to observe and there is absolutely no doubt it relates to us.

I invite you to join us we all work our way through a new subject for me and most likely for all who are there. We have two services at 9 and 10:45 and live stream both as well.

#Mother’sDay#SpecialDay#Honor

Friday, May 6th, 2022

This Sunday, in case you were born yesterday or are from the planet Vulcan, is Mother’s Day. A National Holiday. If you ask some, it is THE NATIONAL HOLIDAY!! 🙂  I know some will think I am prejudiced but I’m really not: I believe I married the best of the best, the cream of the crop.  Seriously, I am not prejudiced. 🙂 🙂

Anyway, Mother’s Day brings a gamut of emotions.  Happy thoughts. Sad thoughts. Reminiscing thoughts. Bitter thoughts. The list goes on.

One thought it brings to a pastor is scary: what do I say on Mother’s Day? I am a man and who am I to think I can use Proverbs 31 to tell a woman how to be that kind of woman? And who am I that I should use Mother’s Day to tell a woman she needs to be submissive to her husband (and he to her)?

So I decided to take the chicken way out…or is is the wise way out? I’ll let you decide and have your opinion. I decided to approach this year differently. No, I didn’t ask a woman to preach for me (I don’t want to get into that frankly). However, I did ask for help.  I know…how unlike a man right?

I texted 10 women and asked them a question: what woman in the Bible stands out as a hero you look up to?  I thought I would then take their suggestions and write my sermon focusing on them. Little did I realize that not only would all the ladies respond but they would-in many cases-give me several women. Yikes! It is Mother’s Day and I know they will not want to be there for a couple hours.

So I elicited their help. “Would you be willing to share with the church family why you chose those ladies?” Two said they would, but would be out of town, so they were willing to record it on a flash drive for us to show. Several said they were uncomfortable or not yet ready to share their story.  I certainly understood and was willing to forgive them. 🙂  Five said they would, but a couple were hesitant to do it from the pulpit (fear). So I decided to do it like a panel and focus it more like a discussion amongst themselves, but obviously including the rest of us in their musings.

I’m looking forward to it. Novel approach. Hopefully a great learning experience.

We are having one service at 10:00 since I did not want to put the ladies through two services.  If you are able to be with us in person, I look forward to seeing you. If not, please join us via the live stream. You can join us by going to the church website where you will see our link to YouTube and also Facebook (Look below the sermon title).

 

#ActionstoWords

Friday, November 19th, 2021

This Thursday we will celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving. Of all people, we who are Christ-followers must see and realize thanksgiving is much more than a national holiday where we get together with family and friends; eat gobs of food (way too much probably); park ourselves in front of a TV to watch a football game or two or three; and wile away the day as though it us just another day. In reality, it is just another day on a calendar, but it is a day which should remind us of something much greater: we have so much to be grateful for!

We do have much to be grateful for but we must also realize that gratitude is more than words; it also involves action. Words are useless unless they lead to sharing the gifts God has given us with others. One of the most firm statements of that truth is found in James 2. You know…that chapter that had Martin Luther thinking the book of James was a “book of straw.”

I will wrap up my 4 week series on Attitude Check this Sunday with a sermon I have titled “Putting Actions to Words.”  I will be using the 10 lepers as a lead in to gratitude but the bulk of the message will be looking at James 2: 14-26.

I invite you to join us this Sunday in person or online.  Next week I start a series around Christmas. (Go figure!) 🙂

#BlackHat#WhiteHat

Friday, November 12th, 2021

Well…this is embarrassing. As I looked at last week’s post about the sermon I used the information from the sermon but used the wrong title. It was supposed to be Pictures Don’t Lie but instead I used this week’s title. So…I apologize for the mix up. This week’s message is really entitled Black Hat/White Hat. 🙂

Many of you are old enough to remember when it was easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. We used to say, “The good guys wore the white hats.”  If they didn’t wear them (literally) ya knew who the good guys were. Lone Ranger. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Wyatt Earp. Palladin. Even Perry Mason.  That, of course, was before the switch in culture began to call bad good and good bad, before we began to praise wrong and before the start of sequel #100 left us hanging at the end of the season or movie.

This Sunday I want to take this idea of the white hat/black hat and apply it to gratitude.  You see, we have this innate penchant for pushing the envelope, for seeing how close we can to the cliff without falling off. As we look at gratitude there are two sides to it.  My plan is to look at the dangers of ingratitude (black hat)  and compare them to the delights of gratitude (white hat).

Please join us if you are able. You can do that in person (9:00 and 10:45) or online (same time). I’d love to have you join us. If you watch online (we stream to the church’s FB page and YouTube), would you please do me a favor? Just let us know so I can see who watches. If you can’t join us for whatever reason (attending your own church is a good one), please pray for us. I would appreciate that a whole bunch.

If you watch online, you can go to the church’s website for the links.

#Gratitude#PicturesDon’tLie

Friday, November 5th, 2021

How do you know if you are a grateful person?  Because you say your prayers before you go to bed and say, “Thank You God for being with me today”? Is it because you say a prayer of thanks before your meal?

Truthfully, I want to say I am a grateful person. But how can I know? When you look into the mirror, and if you were to ask yourself, “Are you a grateful person” what would your answer be? How do you know?

I’m not trying to trick you with those questions. During this week’s sermon, which I have entitled Black Hat/White Hat (think old TV shows), I want to take a look at three characteristics of a grateful person.

A grateful person is transformed by Christ.

A grateful person is growing in gratitude.

A grateful person is dependent on God.

Obviously, I’m going to look at each one of these in a bit more depth. I invite you to join us in person if you can. If not, please join us live stream. If you can’t watch it “live” you can always go back to it another time during the week.  Thanks for praying for us.

#ThePivot#Gratitude

Friday, October 29th, 2021

Would you agree that given the current state of our world we need something to hang our hat on?

I think that coat rack is gratitude. Gratitude reveals each person’s core-his priorities, his presuppositions, his understanding of God, and his ways.  Truth: our gratefulness to God and our indifference toward Him lays the line of demarcation between wisdom and folly.  I am calling that “The Pivot.”

When a basketball player is dribbling and needs to change direction he pivots. When a player gets a pass and faces the hoop or turns on a dime, he must have a pivot foot. It is a foot that is always grounded. To move both feet while in possession of the ball is a “travel.’ (Unless, of course, you are in the NBA. Then you can run about 5 yards with it then shoot or pass).

In our walk with Christ, our future swings on a well-oiled hinge or one that is rusty and grungy. Gratitude is either a well-oiled hinge or it is old and rusty. I think it can be said whichever one is used the most…gratitude or griping, gratitude or ungratefulness. You choose.

My sermon Sunday is the beginning of a 4-week series called “Attitude Check.” It, of course, will lead up to the Sunday following the Thanksgiving holiday. And I suspect you can already guess my title: The Pivot. Join me please as we study from I  Tim.1:12-15 and Deut.33:25.

We had a dead battery pack for the first service last week so the quality was not as good as it should have been so I apologize for the lag. But the pack had sufficiently charged for the second service. If you missed last week you can watch it on YouTube. Just look for the 10:45 heading. We will be ready to go this week! If you can’t join us, please pray for us.

#LetFreedomRing#GuestBlog

Monday, July 5th, 2021

I read the following blog this morning (Monday).  It is from the Church & Culture blog of James Emery White, Pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church.  I thought you might enjoy reading it. Meanwhile, you might to also check out his website where you will find other blogs. Here you go:

On the 4th of July, I’m always reminded of times I’ve traveled in countries where freedom is severely curtailed. Or where the people have been freshly freed from the chains of injustice, and the joy of their release was palpable.

I was in Johannesburg on the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid.

I was in Korea when the border between North and South was electric with tension.

My most powerful memory came from Moscow, where I was teaching shortly after the fall of communism. 

One night a group of us went to the famed Bolshoi Ballet. It was a long, wonderful evening, and after we took the subway back to where we were staying, the students said, “Come and let us celebrate.” The other two professors with me were as tired as I was, but the students were so intent on our joining them, that we went. 

And then we found out what celebration meant to them. 

They wanted to gather in the dining room and sing hymns and worship God. And we did, late into the night, with more passion and sincerity than I have ever experienced. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know how to sing in Russian—we worshiped God together.

But I went to bed puzzled. I had never seen such passion for spontaneous and heart-filled worship. I was curious as to why they were so ready and eager to offer God love and honor. I received my answer the following Sunday when I was invited to speak at a church in North Moscow. A former underground church that met in secret (as so many churches had been), they were now meeting openly in a schoolhouse. I had been asked to bring a message that Sunday morning. 

I didn’t know that I was in for a bit of a wait.

The service lasted for nearly three hours. There were three sermons from three different speakers, with long periods of worship between each message. 

I was to go last. 

When it was over, I talked a bit with the pastor of the church. I was surprised at not only the length of the service, but the spirit and energy of the people. Throughout the entire three hours, they never let up. In spite of the length of time, they never seemed to tire. Even at the end, they didn’t seem to want to go home.

“In the States,” I said, “you’re doing well to go a single hour before every watch in the place starts beeping.” (This was before smart phones.) He didn’t get my weak attempt at humor, but he did say something that I will never forget.

“It was only a few years ago that we would have been put in prison for doing what we did today. We were never allowed to gather together as a community of faith and offer worship to God. And we are just so happy, and almost in a state of unbelief, that we can do this now – publicly, together – that we don’t want it to end. And not knowing what the future might hold for us here, we know that every week might just be our last. So we never want to stop. So we keep worshiping together, as long as we can.”

As I left, his words never left my mind. I thought to myself, “I will never think about worship the same again. I’ve been too casual about it, too laid back, taken it too much for granted. These people know what it’s about – really about – and because of that, they have been willing, and would be willing again, to suffer for it. To be imprisoned for it. To die for it. Because they’ve discovered that it holds that high of a yield for their life. It has that much meaning and payoff and significance. It matters that much.”

And it should matter that much to all of us.

Happy 4th of July.

James Emery White

Editor’s Note

This blog was originally published in 2013, and the Church & Culture Team thought you would enjoy reading it again.

#Forgiveness#LessonsforReal

Sunday, March 21st, 2021

This past Sunday I preached about the necessity of the cross. I once again went to an unlikely Scripture for better understanding: Psalm 130.  Thanks to the late Dr. James Boice (see the end of this post for an interesting fun fact), I was able to make some excellent remarks about God’s forgiveness. I share those with you here:

#1- God’s forgiveness is inclusive. Verse 4 does not say, “There is forgiveness for this sin but not that sin.” It would be even worse if it said, “There is forgiveness for this sin” but then not include the one you or I are guilty of. God’s forgiveness sets no limits. The only sin not forgiven is the rejection of Christ.

#2- God’s forgiveness is for now.  The translators do it right here (v.4) by using the word “is.”  The original Hebrew is even stronger because it says, “With you forgiveness.” You or I don’t have to wonder about our future of standing before God or standing in trembling uncertainty. There is forgiveness for you, this moment, right now.

#3- God’s forgiveness is for those who want it. In verses 1-2 the psalmist says, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” Forgiveness is there but you must ask for it. One thing I have noticed over the years is God will never force Himself on anyone. You must ask. You must want Him. Notice the psalmist is confessing his sin in verse 1. Pleading for mercy in verse 2. And then believing and trusting God for that mercy in verse 4. 

#4- God’s forgiveness leads to godly living. Some people object to grace being a motivating factor because they say it leads to sin. You know that argument right? “Bill, if you teach about grace it will just give people a license to sin.” I see it as the opposite. The forgiveness we are talking about does not lead to license but to reverence for God. Notice the words at the end of verse 4: “to be feared.” That is reverence. A life truly changed by the power of the Gospel and the power of God’s forgiveness will not fall into a pattern of sin and disregard for God’s Word. The true effects of forgiveness are love and worship and service not license to sin.

So there you have it. Four lessons to learn and apply about forgiveness. I hope this helps you understand forgiveness a little more.

And now for the fun fact: Dr. Boice’s father was an M.D. who practiced in Duquesne, PA. and McKeesport Hospital. He was my family doctor. Today he would be called a Pediatrician. That was l-o-o-o-o-n-g before specialized medicine. 🙂 And there you have an interesting fun fact.